Well alot of you are aware that I sent out Delve to a number of targeted agents. So far, I've had 4 out of 8 come back with rejections. Most of them look like standard rejections - many saying that the manuscript isn't right for their list. Is this the usual comment? I'm starting to wonder if I've targeted the wrong agencies, or if it's something else in my approach that's not hitting the mark i.e. cover letter or synopsis. Not sure where to go from here. Any advice?

The only chink of hope was one rejection where the agent had handwritten a note 'promising - keep at it."

I know it's only the start of the journey, and I probably shouldn't feel so despondent. Should I wait for the other 4 to come in, or review what I've sent already and submit to some more agents? I feel like I should be doing something.

'Isn't right for their list' is a standard rejection line, even if you've hit the right agent for that type of mss, so don't read anything into it.

'promising - keep at it' means they see potential but you're not there yet with this mss, possibly the next one or the one after...it's a matter of perseverence and finding the right combination of charcters & plot to interest them.

Yes, continue submitting. Don't give up yet.



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Meanwhile, if you're not writing the next one yet, then get plotting.

It's very encouraging to get a rejection like that, Lorraine - well done. Agents don't waste their busy time writing comments like that for nothing.

Well, early days, i'd wait and see what happens with the other 4. They sound like standard rejection letters - could be for a number of reasons, not necessarily that your writing isn't up to the mark - eg that recently they've taken on a very similar book or just haven't fallen in love with your book (doeesn't mean someone else won't).

Have you uploaded any work up to here and had it critiqued?

I normally start getting twitchy after 15 standard rejections and then consider in all seriousness where i could be going wrong.

If funds allow, i then consider getting a report done on the first 3 chaps or perhaps the whole thing.

But this is a long way off. You have already had one personal, encouraging rejection and should be proud of that.

Maybe one of the other agents from the other 4 will give you a titch of feedback to help you tweak before sending out another batch.

Good luck!

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And yes, like Naomi says, get on with your next MSS

'promising - keep at it."

That's good news!

And I'd agree - keep going. Of the very top slice of the slushpile which most agents will agree is good enough and saleable to take on, it will be very subjective as to which, exactly, rings a particular agent's bell and makes it irresistible to him/her. And you can't know which agent will be that one, so you just need to keep going.

As Petal says, once you're around the 12-15 mark it's time for a re-think: looking at what response you've had, and deciding whether to keep going or re-work the submission.

Best of luck with it!

Emma

I agree 4 rejections isn't much and the personal note sounds really promising!

I think I'm right in remembering this is YA, isn't it? Or have I remembered wrong? If there's any bits you'd like a fresh eye for, you're more than welcome to upload a chunk to children's. We often crit cover letters and synopses there too.

I think the sad fact is that agents are just deluged with manuscripts so even well written stuff doesn't get through. You have to be really original and have a very good hook so they don't forget you.
I don't know if this is any help (and the competition is closed now) but I recently wrote a blog post on how to make the first 300 words of your manuscript unputdownable: http://awfullybigblogadventure.blogspot.com/2011/07/300-words-to-unputdownable-leila.html#more

Thanks for so many insights and advice. I do belong to the IC group and I've made good use of the crits I received.

Florapost - I may take you up on the suggestion you posted here, although my work is probably more the teen fiction end of the YA category.

Leila - thanks for the link, I think I've read this blog before - v good advice. My first 300 words I think do draw the reader in, or at least I've been told that they do, so maybe it's something else that doesn't quite work.

Naomi, Petal - I am working on another manuscript idea - something completely different, but I'm atill at the plotting stage. I guess if I throw myself into that, it will take my mind off the other.

Lorraine, I would hazard a guess and say that virtually every single person on this forum has been in this position, especially with the first novel you submit.

We write, we redraft, we submit... and we dream about the offer that will come. Four rejections isn't much in the big scheme of things - unfortunately you will probably receive many more over the run of your writing career. But amongst them will be the small encouragements - like this handwritten comment from the agent -, then bigger encouragements (like a request for the full) and eventually you'll break through.

Realistically, it's extremely rare for the first novel you've written to be taken on by an agent, and the fact that you've had a professional say that you have potential so early on is a great indication that you are a good writer.

If someone had said to me, when I first submitted a novel, 'It'll be nine years before you get an agent for a novel', I think I would have thrown in the towel there and then. I don't think it'll take you this long, because from what I've seen, you are much further on than I was at that stage. But each book you write improves your skill, your ear for the language, your understanding of plotting and structure.

So, as the others have said, the very best way of dulling the pain of rejections is to make sure that you have the next thing on the go (or at least hatching in your mind). That way, you can always tell yourself, 'This next one will be the one.'

I remember submitting something that I thought was the best I could possibly write. When it got standard rejections all round, I was v. despondent and went off to re-train as a teacher. I thought, "Well, if that one's not going to make it, I may as well give up now because I just can't pull anything else out of the hat."

But looking back now, I can see so many ways that it needed improving. I thought it was my best at the time, but it wasn't - because the next book I wrote was much, much better.


All this is to say that what you're going through is normal, it's common and it's par for the course for everyone who aspires to write for publication.

And I hope the next communication from an agent is a request for the full!

YA covers the 13-16yrs age band (slotting between 9-12 childrens and 17+ adult).
Once technique has been mastered, it's often the story arc that lets an mss down, so maybe post the synopsis in the Childrens Group and see if parts of the plot can't be rejigged.

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But, tbh, I'd concentrate on the new wip while this mss is being submitted, and come back to it if & when an agent asks for the full and suggests changes.

I've just got a rejection through this morning, and it doesn't feel any better than it did nine years ago!

Ow, Freebird! Commiserations.

I doubt if it ever gets any easier, alas, as far as I can tell from established writer friends.

The firmer the professional confidence under a writer's feet, the more catastrophic it is if it starts to crack...

Emma

Freebird, Heartfelt commiserations to you. I hope the next one that comes in is an offer. Lorraine

Sympathies Freebird! Lorraine, I wanted to say that I could have written FB's words back there about being so certain I couldn't improve on my first children's book. And how I didn;t think I could cope with any more rejection. I can't stress enough that if you want it, you have to just put your head into the wind, pull up your collar and keep going. It's so hard...but four rejections is almost none, I promise you.

I got way more than ten before I gave up and went directly to a publisher. Best of luck with it

Thanks, Caroline. I was just on a whine I think. I know that 4 is nothing compared to other people's experiences. And I also know that I'm made of sterner stuff.